Military `Don't Ask' policy subject of play

August 15, 2004

CHICAGO — As publisher and managing editor of the gay weekly newspaper Windy City Times and the partner of a former career military woman, Tracy Baim is prone to ask and tell about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays and lesbians in the U.S. military.

Based on 20 years of reporting on gay issues and what she has heard from her partner--Jean Albright, a former Air Force master sergeant who retired from the military in 1992--Baim five years ago wrote "Half Life," a book about the experience of lesbians and gays after returning from the 1991 Gulf War.

With Baim's help, it was transformed into a screenplay by Catherine Crouch. Bev Spangler, artistic director of Awaken! Performances, in turn adapted it into a play that will debut Aug. 27 at American Theater Company's venue at 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago.

More than 10,000 military personnel have been discharged for homosexuality since 1993, when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was enacted under President Bill Clinton, according to the Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network, for which Albright is a national board member.

Nevertheless, many people are not familiar with the effects of the policy and the outright gay military prohibition that preceded it, Baim said.

"Even gay people and progressive-minded straight people have no idea," she said. "I think it will serve to educate some people who don't realize the impact of these policies."